Steve McPherson who works near the UK coast has been collecting items from his local beaches for 20 years using what he find to create beautiful and shocking works of art. His work is greatly focused on the Marine plastic pollution on a global scale and working with data. I’m visualizing McPherson’s studio and can just see such beautifully organized boxes of some crazy items he has found on his beach walks picking up plastic pollution. Something I am hoping to have soon. McPherson sorts all collection of Marine pollution by color, which doesn’t always go perfectly due to him being colorblind. Many but not all of his works use a very scientific take on displaying his findings using grid like formations as well almost pie charts by using a circular form to display the information he is visualizing. The work becoming a beautiful collision of art and science.
Three works of his that really inspired me are Correlation, Turbulent, and Wavelength. I was drawn to them first due to their beautiful configurations of color and use of material. Then through reading more about each one of them I was moved by how they all reveal data and a collection of materials all sourced from his local community. I have found it daunting going through statistics of ocean pollution and the horrible affects plastics are having on our ocean. One-person cant single handily fix the issue but bringing back to your community and doing your part is how change starts to happen. So seeing McPherson’s take on changing his local area through doing his own clean ups is an inspiration to keep going and change my backyard so to speak.
Correlation is a circular form where on first glance appears to be a colorful display of items neatly arranged on the canvas. But through reading it explains that it is a visual chart that has the locations visited by Phileas Fogg, the main character from Around the World in Eighty Days, and the varying temperatures in those cities. The work is the path of a journey that combines fiction and real life data and showing how warm these locations are on average. This representation of the heating of our planet is the right amount of information where it does affect you are but isn’t to over bearing where its too much to take in.
Another work that is centered on world data is, Wavelength, which another circle of placed objects that are then sectioned off into 5 segments for each ocean. The work highlights the gyres of pollution within each ocean revealing the depth and size through the shifting colors. Once again through it being so visually appealing the work allows for the viewer to linger and engage with the piece while not being to overtaken by the scary data being represented.
Turbulent, 2014 is an explosion of black unaltered Marine plastics also found on UK beaches between 1994-2014. I get why he has the fact that they are unaltered because all together the black appears so saturated especially in the center where so many different pieces over lap creating a dark black hole esc center. The center then surrounded with a very meticulously placed items creating a maze look. On closer inspection you see how man-made and manufactured each piece is with small cereal codes and patterns pressed into the plastics. This work is again centered on a circular and center point in what is appearing to be an important aspect with in his works that use his collected Marine Plastics. Either referencing the global impact or the gyres of pollution circulating throughout the oceans the shape is a very strong aspect within the work mainly due to his ability to show the data he has collected.
McPherson’s work to me is very successful due his brilliant way of showing such horrible data about how poorly our oceans are doing due to the over production of plastics. The use of material is so inviting and almost playful due to the colors and arrangement on the canvas. Looking forward to watching what he creates next and taking inspiration in his 20 years of cleaning up his local beaches.